Miami basketball can follow Heat blueprint to develop fanbase

A recent article in Wallethub declared Miami the sixth best city in the United States for basketball. The Miami Heat and Miami Basketball program combined to earn the lofty ranking. The Hurricanes can follow the Heat’s blueprint to further develop their fanbase.

While Miami was ranked sixth nationally as a basketball-crazed city for NBA fans, that ranking was only 104th for college basketball according to the WalletHub article. It’s not clear if the college basketball rankings included Florida Atlantic and Florida International or were solely based on the Miami basketball program.

Wallet Hub compared 290 cities with NBA and NCAA basketball programs on 21 metrics to determine who has the best fans. The Hurricanes have sold out season tickets for the last four seasons in basketball. Under Jim Larranaga, the Miami basketball program has created a good homecourt advantage at the Watsco Center.

The Heat finished in a six-way tie for the most engaged fans in the NBA with the fans of the Golden State Warriors, Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, Sacramento Kings and Orlando Magic. Two of Miami’s ACC Rivals, Duke and North Carolina were among the six cities where the most engaged fans in college basketball reside.

The 21 metrics measured by WalletHub were graded on a 100-point scale. According to WalletHub, they weighted each city’s average across those metrics to determine the overall score to rank NBA teams and college basketball programs.

The formula to determine the most dedicated fans in college basketball were based on a variety of factors. Those included college basketball programs winning percentages over a few seasons, national champions, conference championships, Hall of Fame head coaches, tickets prices and fan engagement.

The fan engagement only included Twitter Followers and Facebook likes. It did not take into consideration Instagram, other social media websites or blogs like Canes Warning dedicated to covering the team.

"NCAA Basketball – Total Points = 30Number of College Basketball (Division 1) Team(s): Full Weight (~4.29 Points)Performance Level of College Basketball (Division 1) Team(s): Full Weight (~4.29 Points)Note: This metric was calculated by dividing “Number of Wins” by “Total Games Played” and using the past three seasons’ averages.Number of College Basketball (Division 1) Championship Wins: Full Weight (~4.29 Points)Number of College Basketball (Division 1) Conference Regular Season Championship Wins: Half Weight (~2.14 Points)Number of Hall of Fame Head Coaches: Half Weight (~2.14 Points)Minimum Season Ticket Price for College Basketball (Division 1) Games: Full Weight (~4.29 Points)College-Basketball Fan Engagement: Full Weight (~4.29 Points)Note: This metric was calculated by adding “Number of Twitter Followers” and “Number of Facebook ‘Likes’ per Capita.”Number of Coaches in Past 10 Seasons: Half Weight (~2.14 Points)Note: “Past 10 Seasons” include seasons 2009–2010 to 2018–2019.College-Basketball Stadium Capacity: Half Weight (~2.14 Points)Note: This metric was calculated by dividing “Stadium Capacity” by “City Population."

In a few years, the likelihood is that Miami rises on this list. Larranaga belongs in the Basketball Hall of Fame and is destinated to get there eventually. The Miami Men’s basketball twitter account @CanesHoops currently has 52,000 followers. The Hurricanes Facebook page has 48.127 likes.

A lot of the factors don’t take other outside metrics into account. Television ratings, shares on Facebook and Twitter interaction between fans on social media and the resale market for tickets could all be added to the equation. The number of metrics to measure a fanbase’s devotion is infinite and subjective.